Recommendations for LCR Floorstanders <$10K and <$20K?

[shadyJ]

And ShadyJ, thanks for including links in your post. It's always nice to have the link right there to see what you are talking about, because similiar to JTR and Danley...I've never heard of Genelec mentioned before in my life.

Genelec is bigger in Europe than the US, but they are very highly regarded and one of the best manufacturers of studio monitors today. They are known more in pro-audio than home audio, but they are big in pro-audio. The Genelec speakers I linked to would typically be installed in a mixing studio theater like this one:

The pm3 certification in THX means they are certified for the creation of THX sound tracks which is a high standard of performance, and not many speakers actually have it. Of course, that means a very faithful playback of the original recording. If you have the money and just want pure neutrality with lots of dynamic range and no goofing around with some peculiar voicing, the Genelec 1037 or 1038 will foot that bill nicely. If you are near L.A., N.Y., Nashville, or Chicago or somewhere a lot of media production happens, chances are there might be a studio that uses these speakers, so you might call around and see if any of these studios will give you a demo. Maybe call a Genelec rep and ask him if he can arrange something like that.

 

[jinjuku]

Also check out the JBL LSR6332

 

[shadyJ]

I would have mentioned the LSR6332 but I was thinking the OP was wanting to spend more. I'm not sure what spending more will get you though, with the 6332's amazing response, aside from more dynamic range. In a small to medium sized room, the 6332 would be killer, hell, Harman uses it in their reference room. Like the Genelecs, the 6332 is pm3 certified.

 

[jay21112]

WOW, BoredSysAdmid, holy JTR!

Noesis 215RT (Reference Tower):
$3.5-$4K
+/-3db 18hz-24khz, 95db/1w, 2x 15" woofers, 17" wide, 72" tall, 22.5" deep

Like I said. I want to pay for the speaker....not the fancy paint and finish.


JTR Noesis floor standing, full range speakers? - JTR Speakers Inc.

 

[Plexmulti9]

A lot of blind recommendations here of the typical internet flavor of the months, but none of them can be accurate because we should be asking questions first.....

- How big is your room? Height, Width, Depth. We need this to calculate cubic footage.
- What is your seating distance from the screen?
- How many rows of seats will you be having?
- Any related equipment? Amps, receiver, etc.
- What kind of speakers have you used (or heard) before and enjoyed?
- What size screen?


These are important variables to know! Without this info people are just going to be saying whatever.

PS: I read through the entire thread and didn't see any of this if it was listed. If it was, my apologies and please let me know the post number!

 

[jay21112]

- How big is your room? Height, Width, Depth. We need this to calculate cubic footage.
- What is your seating distance from the screen?
- How many rows of seats will you be having?
- Any related equipment? Amps, receiver, etc.
- What kind of speakers have you used (or heard) before and enjoyed?
- What size screen?

Hmm, much of this is speculation...especially since the screen isn't built yet, but:
-The room is 30'Wide. I haven't measured the depth and height but it's probably 8-10'Height and 60-80'Depth.
-I think my seating calculation brought me somewhere between 8-15' from screen (after averaging for HD, 4K, 3D best distances).
-I have 2 rows of seats, but only the 1st row (8'-15') is used / calibrated for / worried about.
-Equipment....well, right now all speakers are run off the AVR or internal amps. The only other amps I have are only powering transducers right now. But if I need amps, I'll buy them. Nothing more pricey than Emotiva though. I don't think anything else would be needed. I've always dreamed of externally amping all speakers and just buying a preamp for the AVR. But if I had to pull the trigger right now I'd do the Yamaha new pre / post, and just bi-amp or external amp the L,C,R, if needed.
-My speakers are slowly evolving, they started as a Boston Acoustics HTiB, which I slowly Replaced with Polk LSi, and now I'm slowly replacing with...well whatever I get out of this thread.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Not holy "BoredSysAdmid", just call me BSA

Probably huge budget buster, but I also going to mention PMC speakers brand - might be a good fit for upper budget brackets..., but JTR should deliver similar performance for a fraction of the price....
I don't know if it is worth going with Noelis series - I see higher output than tripple8, but do you really need it??....

Do keep in mind this little video:

 

[crossedover]

PRO - Pro Audio Technology

Specifications
Application:
Quad or five-amplifier channels, large format 4-way screen channel loudspeaker
LF Section:
Dual 15” professional grade woofers with 4” voice coil
MF Section:
7” professional grade compression driver on large format horn
Carbon fiber diaphragm
90° x 40° horn / 28” x 28”
HF Section:
1.5" annular diaphragm coaxial compression driver
90° x 60° horn / 18” x 22”
Crossover:
8th order acoustic via DSP
Power Handling:
2800W LF / 400W MF / 150W UMF/ 80W HF
Sensitivity:
101dB LF / 114dB MF / 114dB UMF/HF
Power Requirements:
requires four or five channels of PRO amplification
Frequency Range:
34Hz – 36kHz
Maximum Output:
>140dB SPL
Nominal Impedance:
4-ohms/8-ohms/8-ohms/8-ohms
Dimensions:
MF / HF Assembly: 52” H x 32” W x 42”D
LF Enclosure:
36” H x 22” W x 21.5” D
Weight:
MF/ HF Assembly: 180 lbs.
LF Enclosure:
142 lbs.

 

[crossedover]

[video=youtube;OVodyRvHp7E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVodyRvHp7E[/video]

 

[crossedover]

[video=youtube;PVcXHvVn4H0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVcXHvVn4H0[/video]

 

[jay21112]

but JTR should deliver similar performance for a fraction of the price....

That was quite awesome.

One thing to take into account here. I did say BOTH speakers under $20K and speakers under $10K.
I'm not purposefully trying to throw money to the wind here.
If I can get something that sounds just as good for half the price....that's exactly what I'm looking for.

I put dollars up there to show that I'm willing to pay the money for a quality speaker....but let's not get silly. If I have money left over, there are like 11 other speakers in my theater I could upgrade. Or the walls, or the lights, or...hell put it in my IRA.

So basically what I'll eventually settle on is the speaker that offers the best performance at the lowest price point - but I'm willing to spend a little more to raise that price point to get better performance. I know, that sentence could lead to an infinite paradox, but that's why I set my upper limit at $20K for the trio.

 

[Swerd]

Hmm, much of this is speculation...especially since the screen isn't built yet, but:

The room is 30' Wide, about 8-10' High and 60-80' Deep.

Seating is somewhere between 8-15' from screen.

I have 2 rows of seats, but only the 1st row at 8'-15' is the calibration point.

That's a large room, much larger than a typical family room. We should have asked you about this sooner, but thanks to Plexmulti9 for asking about this first.

The real problem you will have is not what speakers to buy and how much power you will need to drive them, but how to get your system to sound good in such a room.

Your room may be larger than any family room or finished basement room I've known, but its much smaller than a theater or auditorium. Your room is between "home sized" and "pro theater size". What works for a large auditorium may not work well in your intermediate sized room. So filling it with sound is not just a matter of spending money on pro audio gear.

If you want to do this room yourself and succeed, you will have to understand the acoustic problems you must solve. For starters, read these two articles written by Floyd E. Toole, someone who knows quite a lot about this subject. At the time he worked for Harmon Intl. so gloss over any plugs for their equipment, and see what he says.

http://us.infinitysystems.com/tl_files/content_resources/infinity/white%20papers/acoustical_design.pdf

http://us.infinitysystems.com/tl_files/content_resources/infinity/white papers/acoustics_spkrplacement.pdf

These aren't step-by-step how to articles, but they do introduce the kind of acoustic problems you will encounter.

As is usually the case, power and brute force alone won't solve these problems nearly so well as some knowledge of acoustic behavior in a room, and some careful use of equalization to tame acoustic problems.

 

[jay21112]

That's a large room, much larger than a typical family room.

Ok, so I was talking to my brother today, and he said there is no way my room is that big. So how about 15'Widex40'Deepx8'High?
Like I said, those measurements were guestimates from memory, and obviously I must have been measuring the length of my house or something when I made them.

Jay21112 <- Obviously no spacial reference.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Noesis 215RT (Reference Tower):
$3.5-$4K
+/-3db 18hz-24khz, 95db/1w
Like I said. I want to pay for the speaker....not the fancy paint and finish.

Ask them for speaker measurements. Listing specs is too easy. Anybody can just list specs. But can they back it up with actual speaker measurements so you can see the potential of the speaker in a good environment.

Making a speaker that can play 130dB is easy. I guess at 110-120dB, it's kind of difficult to tell how great it really sounds. But if your volume from your seating is only 90dB, who cares if it can play 130dB?

You want to pay for a speaker that sounds great to you at your volume in your room.

It's kind of like paying for a car that can drive 300MPH and rides like a monster truck when all you really want is a quiet, comfortable, safe car that can drive 80MPH smoothly and effortlessly.

Just remember that Engineering is all about compromises. Speakers have compromises. 130dB volume comes at a compromise too.

 

[Plexmulti9]

At the top of your budget I would look at the Phase Technology dARTS . It's the finest system that I have heard (and I have heard a great many).

Below is a video but first, let me tell you what I shot a video of....

My design center is still under construction so, please pardon the mess. The theater you see is in a very large room in the front third(ish) of our space. The 16x9 screen is 180" diagonal and roughly 15' across. Seating distance is around 19-20'. I will list related equipment below as well.

- The ceilings are 10' high to a tiled drop ceiling and then another 10' up above. The bass doesn't even see the drop ceiling so when calculating cubic footage the room is massive! the bass is so strong and low that it goes through the 1' thick concrete wall behind the screen and shakes the hell out of the ceilings of the next two spaces adjacent. BTW, the subs are turned up to well under half. They are roughly about 1/4 up.

- The impact from the mains and surrounds is incredible. Even with the subs off the system has serious bass impact and punch. At around 1:50 in I am in the back part of the kitchen and about 45' or more away from the screen. Even at this loud volume there is no audible distortion. It's LOUD, but still perfectly clear and crisp.

- The bass can be felt through the cabinetry, counter tops, and into your body even all the way back where I am at 1:50.

- Best part: At 2:07 you hear clinking to my left. Three sets of plates and cups that are stacked on some shelving in the kitchen display have rattled themselves off and were falling. My camera work gets shaky because I had to reach over and grab them before they hit the counter.

- Please notice absolutely ZERO acoustical treatments in the room unless you count the drop ceiling and the fact that the back wall is angled. The system is EQ'd to perfect through the dARTS amp's software. No distortion, hanging mid range, blooming bass, etc.

- Obviously you can't really get a feel for sound quality and bass through the video, but I thought it would be fun to show what a powerful system can do. The front mains and surrounds all use the same 1" tweeter and 6 1/2" woofers. The front L/C/R are all three behind the AT screen.

Related Equipment...

- Epson 6030 Projector Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 6030UB 2D/3D 1080p 3LCD Projector - Product Information - Epson America, Inc.
- Da-lite JKP Screen (180" diagonal) with special AT perf pattern. Da-Lite Home Theater : JKP Affinity
- Marantz 7701 preamp Marantz US | AV7701
- Phase Technology dARTS dARTS Series: Built-In Room Correction Software

Please make sure the video is in 720p when you watch. Thanks!

[video=youtube;caA4Ib6azRs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caA4Ib6azRs[/video]

 

[c2k]

I keep upgrading my theater, and looming in the near future is an acoustically transparent projector screen. Once that is in, I'd like to have 3 identical Floorstanding speakers as the L,C,R.

Looking at Floorstanding speakers, I notice some brands have a dedicated L + R speaker, making me suspect that they would not perform well if I took one and used it as a center channel. Then there are plenty of companies that just sell you two of the same speaker to use as L + R, where I suspect I could just pick up a 3rd and use it as a center channel.

Does anybody have recommendations on good quality speakers that would perform well as a L,C,R setup? Because budget isn't set yet, I'd like to see recommendations in two categories:
<$10K for all three speakers combined (~$3K Each (or less of course)
<$20K for all three speakers combined (~$6-7K Each (or less of course)

Have you considered Funk Audio? Their stuff have fairly high sensitivity. If I were you I would take a serious look at the 8.2P and a Custom work for the center like the 5.4P Center. There are photos of it if you Google "The Official Funk Audio Thread"

Even Acudeftechguy tried the smaller 6.1Ps and I believe he liked them.

I hope this helps jay

 

[GranteedEV]

Definitely recommend the Seaton Catalyst for OP's purely home theater application. They just seem like the absolute best choice available IMO.

 

[c2k]

That was quite awesome.

One thing to take into account here. I did say BOTH speakers under $20K and speakers under $10K.
I'm not purposefully trying to throw money to the wind here.
If I can get something that sounds just as good for half the price....that's exactly what I'm looking for.

I put dollars up there to show that I'm willing to pay the money for a quality speaker....but let's not get silly. If I have money left over, there are like 11 other speakers in my theater I could upgrade. Or the walls, or the lights, or...hell put it in my IRA.

So basically what I'll eventually settle on is the speaker that offers the best performance at the lowest price point - but I'm willing to spend a little more to raise that price point to get better performance. I know, that sentence could lead to an infinite paradox, but that's why I set my upper limit at $20K for the trio.

Go for the Funk Audio 8.2P Actives, their 96db/w and has proven themselves in the Vancouver GTG this year. You have them powered or non-powered or the demo which is in great condition. I saw them like 2 weeks ago. Active cost you 8850 and passive 6250....Demo is 4850. If I were you I would get that. And another 3-4K on a center. The price includes shipping in NA. As for the center you can be setup by custom. They will not have a problem hitting reference. Because the 8.2P image so well, you may not even need a center... And I am quite serious, there are about 12 of us in the same room (jbrown's theator)

If you decide to go that route you can save for literally the best subs in the world...The 18.2, it's the tightest bass you can get and extremely realistic. And would blow the Sub2 out of the water. The SPL GP 2M Max is 130, no compensation for the dual opposed. The guy on avs that got two of them never came back...under the ID mjh222 since 12/14/2013

If you go with the demo route, you have over 5k left over

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

It's been almost 5 months. I wonder if the OP has bought something?

We sure love to spend other's people's money.